Curacao: Visiting the dutch Caribbean

If you’re looking into a Caribbean vacation and you’re considering Curacao, my advice is to do it! It is a small island and a part of the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). I’m an island girl who compares other islands to my own and Curacao passed the test. I spent 11 nights there and I absolutely fell in love with it. Here are 6 reasons that I loved this Caribbean hotspot:

1. The island is beautiful and relaxing
2. The beaches are gorgeous and relaxing!
3. It was hot (at times unbearably hot though🥵)
4. There’s a lively nightlife 
5. There are several restaurants and great food. It’s a foodie’s heaven
6. The people are friendly and I felt welcomed everywhere we went (except for 2 places. More on them later)

Now if you’re going to Curacao, here are some helpful tips that I wish someone had given me:

Things you should pack:

• Your best SUNSCREEN! A pair of sunglasses, a hat for the sun (even if you don’t normally wear hats)
• A converter plug. Their plugs are European
• Cash for the gas stations, because few gas stations accept cards

Weather: HOT. Now I’m melanin blessed and the sun is everything to me. So I loved that it was hot there, but I’m not going to lie. Some days I was like “Sun, you’re doing too much. Calm down”. One day, my husband and I ran from tree to tree seeking shade because walking straight to our destination felt like we were asking to be roasted. I’m not joking here. It just felt unsafe to walk around in direct sunlight like that. Again, BRING YOUR SUNSCREEN. Of the highest SPF too. Yes, Black queen, king and kweens. You too. The sun in Curacao don’t play. 

PS. The airport is piping hot too. The heat at the airport hit us hard when we got there.

Lodging: The island is small, so you can get to most places within an hour. You can’t really go wrong with a location, but it’s probably a good idea to decide on where to stay based on the vibe you’re looking for. 

Willemstad is the downtown city area. It’s a bit more catered to tourists with the American stores, casino, major hotel chains etc. It has the cute coffee shops, it’s where the cruises dock and there’s of course the Renaissance Wind Creek hotel. This hotel is a great option if you’re looking for convenience and luxury. It is a beachfront property, has shops and restaurants connected to the building, a movie theater nearby and it’s easy to get to the Queen Emma Bridge. It’s great for a solo traveler, because you have everything you need at the hotel or nearby and you can go on excursions paid for through the hotel. 

We opted to stay in Jan Thiel because we really needed a relaxing vacation and it has the slower pace we were looking for. We absolutely loved our Airbnb. It had plenty of space, was affordable and the hosts were lovely and responsive. It is also within walking distance to a beach. There is a small beach on the property. It’s not great for swimming and isn’t an impressive beach, but can you beat being able to sit by the water and listen to the waves crash? No. No, you can’t. I highly recommend this property. 

Transportation: Rent a car, if possible, and tour the island. Staying at a hotel where you can book excursions through them is an alternative to renting a car. Some things to note: most of the rentals that were available to us were stick shift; a majority of the gas stations accept cash only; and there are a LOT of roundabouts in Curacao. Thankfully, people drive pretty safely on the island. 

We went with the Avis location at the airport and I do NOT recommend it. The staff persons were some of the few rude customer service representatives that we encountered. They also rented us a roach infested vehicle (my skin is crawling typing this). To make matters worse, they didn’t seem too concerned or surprised when we returned the car for a new one and they weren’t very apologetic. In fact, the manager told me it was the norm for a tropical island. Ahmm ok. Then they had the nerve to nickel and dime us when we returned the car. So unfortunately I don’t have car rental recommendations. We booked the car and paid for insurance through Expedia. This Avis has a habit (according to the reviews I saw later) of pushing their insurance on customers through scare tactics. The reviews are terrible for this place and I’m just throwing another one in the ring. Avoid them. 

Food: The food is AMAZING. As a Jamaican, I love foods like goat, oxtail, seafood, etc. However, my husband likes more Americanized dishes and he also enjoyed their food. There’s something there for every palate. Some of the places that stood out to us (good and bad) were:

Brisa do Mar – Pops Place  by Caracasbaai Beach. It has delicious local food. You dine right by the water and they had live music, which I thoroughly enjoyed, when we ate there. It’s the place to go to if you want to see what Curacao has to offer but you’d rather not try street food. Pops is the place. Highly recommend it for dinner. 9/10.

Steak and Ribs may not be as locally authentic but I LOVED it. We went for our anniversary dinner and they made it so special. It’s also by the water with a breathtaking view. It’s walking distance from the Marriott hotel. I had the conch and it was fantastic. I should confess here that it was the first time I was having conch, so I didn’t have much to compare it to. However, I have since tried conch elsewhere and Steak and Ribs was a million times better. 9/10

For a cute, air conditioned (we were dying from the heat that day) cafe, I really enjoyed Van Gogh Specialty Coffee & City Roastery. We loved this place. My husband liked their Dutch ‘saucijzen broodje a lot. It has ground beef inside and it’s enveloped in a flaky crust. The decor, the service, the food are all yeses for me. We went there twice and we almost never do that when we’re traveling, because we want to experience as much as possible when we’re at a new place. They were out of chai tea latte which is what I usually order and judge coffee shops by but I didn’t get that chance. Still loved them! 9/10. 

There is a food truck called Fridays that we passed on our way back home to Jan Thiel where we were staying. Excellent excellent food. It especially hit the spot for a late night craving after a night out. 8.5/10

Pasawa Box Eatery is a whole vibe. No notes.  It’s so tucked away and we almost missed it. It’s a lil courtyard of food trucks for any appetitie and taste to enjoy. They have music, a variety of food and an eating area for everyone to eat (doesn’t matter where you got your food. Sit anywhere) and servers that take your drink orders. I highly recommend it. We ordered from the BBQ Express truck and loved both our dishes. A lot of the other places looked good, too. 10/10

Zus di Plaza restaurant at Plaza Bieu was highly recommended in a vlog that I watched. I couldn’t wait to try it. I was quickly disappointed. The servers were rude and the soup that I had wasn’t good at all. I didn’t finish it and I’m from the waste not want not school, so it says a lot when I throw food away. I will accept rudeness when the food is popping (I’m Jamaican so I was trained for this from birth. IYKYK) but this didn’t make the cut. BUT by all means go and try it out because we support local businesses over here and I may have caught them on a bad day. It was packed, so there must be a reason for that. 0/10 for me though.

Beer: If you’re a beer drinker, please know that Curacao is all about their local beers. So expect to see/drink a lot of Dutch beers eg. Amstel Bright, Brasa, Zulia.

Things to Do: There is a little something for everyone regardless of what you like to do on vacation.

You can walk around downtown and check out Handelskade where all the colorful and beautiful buildings are. It’s gorgeous and photo worthy.

If you like to buy local art, souvenirs, jewellery, and clothes, and support local business people, then the Floating Market is a must stop. Have cash on hand to buy from some of the vendors. Some take card, but not all do and you will miss out on some of the best vendors if you don’t have cash

Party/Nightlife Scene: Like I said, the nightlife is A+. It does cater to tourists a bit so if you’re looking for something authentic, I haven’t discovered that yet. Maybe on our next trip. We were lucky to get a cheat sheet from a bartender of where to go. See below for the unofficial official rotation of events for the week. I’ll save you the heartache of showing up to a party on the wrong day and it being completely empty. Yep, that happened to us. It happened to us on our first night out and I almost cried thinking I had been sold a bag of lies about the island nightlife. 

Mambo Beach: This stop was my favourite. I danced the night away to Afrobeats, dancehall, hip hop on the beach. Sighs. Take me back immediately! Good music and dancing like no one’s watching on the beach, are all the things I dream of. 

We went to Curaloe, the aloe farm. It was fun, informative and we enjoyed it, but it is not an especially exciting excursion. It was the perfect option for us to have a more lowkey day though. We learned the history of aloe in the island, its many uses and how it is processed at Curaloe. We took some awesome pictures (see below) and bought some of their skincare products. The staff was very friendly. We also met the nicest couple who had moved from America to retire there. They couldn’t stop raving about the island. They have since made me think that Curacao may be the place for us to retire to. 

Now I love a good museum and you cannot go wrong in my opinion when it highlights Black history. We visited Museum Kura Hulanda. It covered the island’s history, the history behind different religions (I found this especially enlightening), and global history. It’s a must visit.  There are some cute shops nearby too if you like boutique shopping. We popped into some of them and took advantage of the color scheme for our photoshoot. 

Serena’s Art Factory / Chichi Garden. You are bound to see the Chi Chi statues across the island. There is an interesting history behind it and we were intrigued when we saw them around the island. We stumbled across the HQ/shop and decided to stop in. I personally wouldn’t go back, but if you are a lover of art and want to watch the ladies making the chichi statues then give them a try. I didn’t think there was a whole lot to see, but what really turned me off is how unwelcomed we felt there. No one spoke to us. No one. Again, it may have been wrong time wrong day. If you do go, try booking a tour where I assume there will be more engagement. I think we would have enjoyed it more had the atmosphere been different. 

Shete Boka National Park. Let me start off by saying: if you’re afraid of lizards, you may want to skip this. There are some breathtaking views, but…. I WISH SOMEONE HAD WARNED ME. I am TERRIFIED of lizards and they run out from ALL corners and run across your path, camoflouge themselves, etc etc. Don’t go if you have a phobia. It was a nightmare for me. I felt like they were all going to come out and jump on me. What is the opposite of the serenity prayer? Where you say “God, I cannot accept this. Please teleport me out of here!” Bc that’s the one I recited. Never again! But if you’re not afraid of dem tings, I highly recommend it. It’s a lovely hike (or that’s what I think based on the short time that we managed to make it through). You can connect with nature and get some awesome shots by the sea. I got a few breathtaking photos, minutes before a blue/green lizard tried to take me out. But I’m from the same country that produced Usain Bolt. He couldn’t catch me!

Walk across Queen Emma Bridge. It’s a floating bridge that connects 2 sides of the island. It’s very pretty at night when it’s all lit up in different colors. Best experience for us was getting on the bridge when they were opening it up for a ship. This was completely unintentional on our part and I freaked OUT when I felt and saw this floating bridge disconnect and start to move with us. We didn’t know what was going on at first. Thankfully, there were other people on the bridge with us or I might have lost it and jumped off in a panic😂. I’m that kinda girl. Luckily, the husband isn’t a scaredy cat like me so him saying “this is cool” calmed me down quite a bit and I loosened my death grip on him. 10/10 would recommend it. It’s scary and cool at the same time. 

Beaches: The beaches are beautiful! One thing to note though that if you love to beach hop (which we do), you’ll have to pay a fee at each beach. Sometimes it’s an entry fee or chair rentals, etc. Google your beach to see how much and if the fee is avoidable. Some are. We restricted ourselves a bit because of the fees, because they add up!

Here are some of our favorite beaches:

• Mambo Beach is where the vibes are. I loved the parties they had on the beach. It’s man made so it’s not a wonder to behold but I went for the vibes.

Places We Didn’t Get A Chance to Visit

I would be remiss not to mention Klein Curacao because we read wonderful things about it. It is its own separate island that you have to take a boat to to enjoy. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and didn’t get to enjoy it. If you do decide to visit, make sure you do your research and pick a company that has the amenities you want and access to toilet facilities etc on the beach. Unless that’s not important to you.

Hato Caves is across from the airport and we really should have checked it out with the multiple trips we had to make there (hello roach infested rental vehicle), but we didn’t. I have never gone on a cave adventure before and I think I would have enjoyed it. But, next time.

All in all, we loved Curacao, highly recommend it and plan to be back!